Jouncer passed on the other side, and when the rider and the drivers came in sight of each other again, Jouncer was ahead, and after that he kept the lead, galloping as madly as if he were carrying the news to Aix.
The boys in the wagon, for a short time, pushed on after him at their best speed, but soon perceiving that they could not catch up with Jouncer, and that they were beaten in the race, they pulled up their panting and dripping little horse, and let him walk the rest of the way to town.
Philip, as soon as he saw that he had won in the trial of speed, began to pull up Jouncer, but he did no more than begin, for he found the undertaking too much for him. Arabian blood seemed to give a hardness to the jaw, a stiffness to the neck, and a power of leaping and bounding to the body of a horse which he had never dreamed of. He could not stop Jouncer at all, and so went dashing along the turnpike until he thundered wildly into the main street of the town, which, as it was market-day, was pretty well thronged with vehicles and people.
CHAPTER VII.
WHAT JOUNCER PUT HIS FOOT INTO.
Jouncer’s hoofs made such a clatter on the hard pavements of the main street of Boontown that the people had time to scatter to the right and left, while the horse guided himself clear of the wagons and buggies.
Philip had no power to stop or to turn him. All he could do was to stick on, which he did right well.
Everybody saw that it was a runaway. The boys shouted, and some of the women screamed, and one negro man ran out into the street to stop the horse, but his courage failed him as Jouncer approached, and he let him pass.
The wildly galloping horse had passed more than half through the town, when a man who was about to cross the street suddenly heard or saw the rapidly-approaching animal, and gave a quick start backward. His heels slipped or struck something, and he fell sprawling on his back, a bundle he carried rolling one way and his hat another.
Jouncer passed quite close to him as he lay upon the ground, but Philip could not tell whether the horse’s hoofs struck the man or not.